Baja 2018: 1,200 miles on Dirt Bikes: I've been through the desert on a horse with no name...

Day 3 promised to be very different from Days 1 & 2. Today's ride would be a lot less challenging, consisting mostly of two-track dirt and sand roads with lots to see along the way. Pepe would be our tour guide and lead rider with Ramon out back. We left the hotel after a filling breakfast about 7:30 am and headed south paralleling the Sea of Cortez. Our first stop was an old copper mine site. Not much remains, except the old jail - for workers who got too drunk and unruly I guess. Walls 4 feet thick and a barrel-shaped vaulted roof would have discouraged any escape attempts.

We continued our ride climbing high into the mountains and riding back down again, ending up on the beach for a few miles as we stopped off at Pancho's little house. Seems the guides had befriended old Pancho a few years back and they always stop by with snacks, cigarettes, and tequila for the man. Today, at 9:30, Pancho was seriously hammered. Still, it was a lot of fun, and he was very glad we stopped. Living in this ramshackle shack has to be balanced a little by the spectacular view. For whatever reasons, he's lived here 35 years!

We continued our trek past huge stands of saguaro cactus and Baja's famous Cirio trees. These odd plants grow very tall and skinny. The people fill the old, hollow trunks with cement and use them for building. The trail was straight, fast, and sandy, followed by tricky uphill or downhill curvy sections. It certainly wasn't boring! We eventually stopped out in the middle of nowhere at a dude ranch called Rancha Piedra Blanca - White Rock Ranch, I think - where we relaxed, had a spectacular lunch, gassed up the bikes, and watched the vaqueros rope calves.

After lunch, we headed about 5 miles from the ranch to a cave where ancient Indians had painted pictures of people, deer, and other things inside of a clamshell-shaped cave, high up on the side of a mountain. It was all Jay and I could do to make the climb in motocross boots, but eventually, we all struggled up to the cave. The amazing paintings have been estimated at about 10,000 years old and, in spite of the abuse I heaped onto poor Pepe for making me climb up there, it was really worth the climb.

We continued our trip on miles of washboard sand roads and finally met up with our chase vehicles for fuel about 70 kilometers outside of the oasis of San Ignacio. We rode the bikes down the highway and rolled into town late in the afternoon for a tour of the 230-year-old mission and some much-needed showers and cervesas. Dinner was at a great little restaurant in the super-picturesque village square. It had been another amazing day. We rode about 180 miles and are currently about halfway to Cabo. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more tomorrow as we plan to stay in the town of Loreto. It will be another 200-mile-plus day, but we're definitely up for it!

Lots of pictures below.